Remember Ting and David? Here’s a quick story that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Back in March I had the honor of photographing Ting and David’s wedding up in Three Rivers, CA - but that was only the first of two weddings they would have. Ting’s family is from China and wasn’t able to make the trip out to California for the wedding, so Ting and David traveled to southern China to have a second wedding with Ting’s family in traditional Chinese fashion. From there they’ve now settled in Sydney, Australia and have literally taken a trip around the world to get there.

Well a few weeks ago I sent Ting and David an email just to say hi and check in on them, and in return they sent me these pictures of their Chinese wedding. Not only did they want to show me the incredible details of the wedding, but they also wanted to show me how they were able to use one of the photos I took of them in the wedding, which you can see in the ginormous, almost billboard sized backdrop above.

“What? Really? You used one of my photos in a wedding halfway around the world?” - that was the first string of words to run through my mind reading David’s email. And then to see the image in the photos they sent - WOW.  Honestly, to know that something I created was used in such a way, so far away, is just an incredible feeling - one that no number of dollar signs or any number of booked weddings could give. As I’ve said elsewhere, it’s these sort of intangible things that really make the job of a wedding photographer worthwhile. It’s really, really hard to beat.

Thanks again to Ting and David for sending these, and for letting me play even just a small sliver of a part of not only your wedding here in the States but in China - a place where I’ve never set foot - as well.

This is a long one, as I absolutely had the most difficult time EVER narrowing down the photos to a manageable few. But hey, the more the merrier, right?

Lauren and Matt were married this past Saturday, and I think spending just about their entire wedding day with them was the final straw in making me fall head over heels in love with them. It was amazing to be able to be with them, to witness their excitement in beginning their new life together, and to capture the immovable smiles that never seemed to leave them throughout the entirety of the day.

Thanks so much, Lauren and Matt, for inviting me into your life, and I can’t wait to see you again. I hope you’re enjoying your honeymoon in Antigua! :)

• Ceremony Venue: San Luis Rey Mission, Oceanside, CA
• Reception Venue: The Crossings at Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA
• Getting Ready Venue: Sheraton Carlsbad Resort & Spa, Carlsbad, CA
• Wedding Coordinator: Kasey Shephard with I Do… Weddings!
• Ceremony Music: Select Brass
• Reception Music: Eric with So Cal DJ
• Florals: Melanie with Bella Blooms
• Hair: Laura Griffin Matthew
• Makeup: Ashley Lowe with AC Makeup
• Second Photographer: Araxi Photography

I love love LOVE this image Araxi got of Matt praying before the ceremony. I can’t think of a better way to begin a life of service to the one you love than by beginning it on your knees.

From what I understand it was no small feat for Lauren’s grandmother to be in attendance at the ceremony, so this one, Lauren, is for you.

And in this one you can see Lauren’s grandmother faintly in the background, which I think is really cool. :)

This post is a very special one, though not quite as special as the one I’m going to post in August after these two get married. Brian is my brother, so you can imagine the honor it is to be able to photograph him and the girl of his dreams.

Maryn and Brian both attended USC and met through Maryn’s sister, who orchestrated what would become an inseparable bond of friendship, love and laughter. True to form, Maryn has a romantically detailed version of the story, but I think Brian’s is pretty funny:

“Here’s the story. I was like, ‘What’s up?’ and she was all, ‘Hey’. The rest is just details.”

I can see all the ladiess rolling their eyes just now as they’re reading this. LOL.

Yesterday we started off at the Huntington Library in Pasadena, where Brian proposed and where Maryn had previously visited no less than - let me see if I remember this - about a gazillion times. Maryn has a very healthy obsession with the gardens there (as well as food and… cupcakes!), and having visited yesterday for the first time, I can see why: the place is amazing! The grounds are so lush with so many different types of landscaping that you could easily spend an entire afternoon enjoying the scenery.

Maryn and Brian will be getting married in August at the historic city hall in Old Town Pasadena, with a reception at the Vertical Wine Bistro not too far from there. Can’t wait!

This is the bench where Brian coaxed Maryn into…. I mean, asked Maryn to marry him:

Sometimes beauty is to be found in the least expected of places. Embrace it when you find it, and capture it to be moved and inspired when you do.

I hope you all have a blessed week. :)

On Saturday, May 23rd, Jonas turned 6 months old. Here’s to hoping that these 6 months turn into 1 year, that 1 year turns into 5, and those 5 years turn into a lifetime.

We’re so glad to have you with us.

ISO 4000, 85mm, f/2.5, 160th sec

Just a few more sample images from the D700, as I had a chance to take a few snaps at my wife’s cousin’s wedding this past Sunday. Suffice it to say that the more I get to use this camera, the more it’s changing absolutely everything about the way I shoot.

The above images were taken at ISO 4000 - no noise reduction! And not only that, it’s amazing how well the color and sharpness holds up at such a high ISO. Nothing special was done in post-production to compensate for anything; only the same standard adjustments were applied as I do with just about every image (curve bump, slight color correction, exposure adjustment, sharpening).

I mean, seriously: shooting at ISO 4000 and getting images to which I might apply noise reduction, but don’t necessarily have to? Really? Are you kidding me?

Here’s one of the above images, no adjustments applied except standard RAW conversion via Adobe Camera RAW (using the D2x Mode 1 Beta camera profile, since Adobe doesn’t know how to convert Nikon RAW files):

And for you pixel peepers out there, here are 100% and 25% crops. I include a 25% crop because that’s closer to reality as far as what you would see in print. At 12.1 megapixels at 300 PPI, you’d have to print an image at 32″ x 48″ to see the equivalent of a 100% crop. On the other hand, 25% gets you just about at the native print size, which is right around 8″ x 12″. Of course, you could print at a 100% equivalent, and with a little bit of post-production work you’d still be able to get a great quality print, even at such a high ISO.

Here are some taken at ISO 1600. As with the above images, absolutely zero noise reduction has been applied.

I realize that there are very few shadows in the above images, but I really like them, k? :)

By the way, how good looking are these two? Like, ridiculously good looking, right?

Happy Tuesday!

And by full-frame style I mean that the photos in this entry have been taken with my new Nikon D700 camera body. For you photographers out there, these images were taken at ISO 3200 with absolutely ZERO noise reduction applied. More on that later in a separate entry. For now, you disbelievers will just have to settle for the straight-out-of-camera files to look at. :)

So, back to my man Jonas. He’s now 5 1/2 months old and just a couple of weeks ago starting eating his first pureed foods. These two photos above REALLY capture his personality. He’s just so dang happy and lovable, and just can’t get enough of a good time, all the time. You really need to meet him in person to believe it.

Happy Monday!

Lauren and Matt are getting married in June at the San Luis Rey Mission with the reception at The Crossings at Carlsbad. I can’t wait for this one!

Lauren and Matt were actually the first couple to book me as the lead photographer for their wedding last year when I was just getting my business up and running. One of the greatest challenges you face when starting in this business (as with just about any business) is capturing people’s trust, so I will always be grateful to them for giving me that chance.

These two are both attorneys and met in law school. What’s funny is that in our first meeting we discovered that we had actually gone to the same law school at the same time. I had just started my first year while they were in their second. Talk about a small world!

Okay okay, now for some pics. First location is Old Town Orange where they met and then lived for several years, and then Laguna Beach to catch the sunset.

—–

Okay, just a little outtake here. Just prior to this moment I had narrowly escaped sudden death after almost getting run over by a car (okay, maybe that’s a little dramatic), and my survival was greeted by the sequence below. See? Lawyers can have fun too. :)

Hey everybody - just a quick announcement to let you know that I took some time this to week to refresh my website a bit. It’s kind of the same, but still kind of different so check it out. :) I also uploaded a bunch of new images, some of which I had never blogged before.

As much as I loved the previous design, I discovered last week that the way I had designed the image galleries made it a bit difficult and time-consuming to update them with new images. So one thing led to another and next thing you know I’ve got a new website on my hands. :) Now I can update my galleries literally in just a few clicks of the mouse.

Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the site has been built from the ground up with Showit Sites. One of the awesome things about this software is the ability to take complete control of your presence on the web. Don’t like your site anymore or have a need to update the design? Just dive right in and get to work. There’s no need to call a designer or buy a new template and get an invoice in return. Love it!

Let me know what you think. :)

Much to my delight as well as utter, utter surprise, I just learned that yesterday I had been featured on the Elizabeth Anne Designs blog. The other night I sent a bunch of images over to Amanda Auer, owner and chief design and planning guru at  In the Now Weddings and Events, of a wedding that we worked at together last summer, and apparently she liked them enough to feature them on the EAD blog!

Thank you, Amanda! And thank you to my friend and fellow photographer Catie for letting me know, because until then I had NO idea!

Have a great day!